Equal treatment

Impact Assessment of the proposal for a Council directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation

Client: EP - LIBE Committee

The Impact assessment focused on the potential costs and benefits to small and medium–sized enterprises and national public administrations of implementing the proposed Equal Treatment Directive. The study reviewed five representative Member States: the Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden, Spain and Romania to carry out estimates.

One of the challenges of this study consisted in determining which areas would be evaluated. Based on consultation and literature review, the following areas were evaluated: disability discrimination for access to the provision of goods and services; age discrimination in healthcare and social care, and sexual orientation in accessing social advantages.

The second phase of the study consisted in carrying national reports to evaluate the situation in the five chosen Member States.

National legal experts analysed the anti-discrimination legal framework in their Member States. These reports provided a clear legal picture of national anti-discrimination legislation after the implementation of EU legislation and the UN Convention on Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). These reports were then used as a basis for national economic experts to draft their national reports. The five economic reports were conducted to provide numbers on what implementation of the proposed Directive would cost in the selected areas.